Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 197 Scepter, Glasses, Dumbledore’s Plan, Lockhart

There were so many changes at one time that it was beyond everyone's expectation.

The unicorn suddenly appeared, the Acromantula attacked and retreated, and the basilisk appeared briefly due to shedding its skin.

Under Toby's instructions, Al hurried back to the tunnel in the castle on a flying carpet. Gryffindor's sword naturally fell into his hand, and he would rather be out of breath than let go.

Immediately afterwards, Toby asked the three of them to stay where they were. He went deep into the Forbidden Forest alone and soon disappeared from their sight.

Harry guessed that he might have gone to find Hagrid, or perhaps he was planning to pursue the victory and take this opportunity to teach the Acromantulas a lesson?

Harry didn't know that his thoughts were focused on the Sorting Hat.

He walked over and put the hat on his head. The hat was too big and slid down over his eyes, just like the first time he wore it.

Harry stared at the black lining of the hat and waited. At this moment, a small voice said in his ear: "Is there something you can't figure out, Harry Potter?"

"Yes." Harry whispered vaguely: "Oh - I'm sorry to bother you - I wanted to ask -"

"You have always wanted to know whether I have placed you in the right house." The hat said smartly, "Yes. Your placement is particularly difficult to place correctly, but I still stick to my original statement-" Harry's heart

Jumping wildly - "You will be very suitable in Slytherin."

Harry forced himself to calm down and asked, "Do you mean Professor Hemmer is suitable?"

"He?" said the Sorting Hat: "No, Harry Potter. Unlike you, Toby Highmore does not have the option of Gryffindor. If you ask me, Hogwarts should have a new class for this kind of person."

If they open a house, they are destined to be different. I just sorted him into Slytherin out of no choice."

Harry was surprised at how calmly he accepted this fact.

Luna and Ginny stood next to the unicorn, and Fawkes, the phoenix, also landed on the unicorn, accepting their gazes calmly.

"They are so beautiful," said Luna.

"Yes." Ginny looked a little absent-minded. She was still afraid of the upcoming punishment-Professor Heimer probably wouldn't let them go so easily.

After a while, Toby in the Forbidden Forest and Al in the castle rushed back at the same time.

However, Toby did not return with Hagrid. He carried a branch as thick as an arm on his shoulder. Al flew to his side and muttered quietly for a while with a solemn expression.

"We'll talk when we get back later." Toby's voice came from under the hood.

Harry noticed that Professor Heimer's tone also seemed a bit solemn, and wondered what Mr. Al had said to Professor Heimer.

Then he saw Professor Heimer walking up to the unicorn, and Ginny carefully tugged on Luna's sleeve, but Professor Heimer didn't look at them at all, but waved away Phoenix Fox.

Fox glanced at Toby angrily, and it turned into a streak of fire and disappeared.

"Don't be nervous." Toby smiled at the unicorn who was watching him warily: "To be more careful, I saved your life last semester. Of course, this time you also saved two of my students.

,so--"

He slapped the unicorn's arm and suddenly pulled it down, pulling off a tail feather. The painful unicorn immediately threw away its hoof, but Toby dodged as expected, causing the unicorn to run away angrily.

He disappeared into the forbidden forest without looking back.

"It's just a little interest!" Toby waved his hand and shouted, then looked back at the three people who were stunned and said: "It's really irritable, but it still allowed me to succeed."

He stretched out his hand and waved it up and down towards Luna: "The silver basswood and unicorn tail hair are ready. Take them out. It's time to reward you."

Luna took out the envelope from her pocket. After opening it, there was a small piece of damaged wand, only as long as a finger.

"This was originally my mother's wand," she said. "That's all that's left now. The rest was destroyed in the curse experiment."

Harry could tell something was wrong. He was the only one among the people present who didn't know about Pandora's existence.

"It's a bit difficult to do." Toby looked at the small piece of wand and said, "But you can give it a try."

Harry didn't expect to see the making process of the scepter at this time - Mr. Al took out a pair of half-moon-shaped glasses from his pocket and put it on, which gave it an unparalleled scholarly temperament, and then he picked it up

The small shovel danced quickly, and it didn't take long to change the silver basswood into a round wooden stick. He then picked it up and measured it in front of Luna for a while.

Harry asked curiously: "Don't you use a tape measure? I think that's what Mr. Ollivander does."

Toby waved his hands indifferently and said, "No need, Al is just pretending, you just need to show an expression of admiration."

Harry: "Huh?"

After some pretentious comparisons, Al began to use a small shovel to carve complex patterns on the sticks.

Toby explained in time: "It is imprinting the magic circle. If it succeeds, it may be able to reduce the impact of ritual magic on you. It is a novel attempt."

If successful?

Harry became curious again: "Will it fail again, Professor?"

"Yeah." Toby said, looking in the direction of the Forbidden Forest: "Then I'll have to look for the unicorn again, hoping it hasn't gone too far."

Harry decided to pretend not to hear anything, Ginny gradually adapted to the atmosphere, and Luna focused on the unfinished scepter.

This is a very complicated magic circle, more complicated than anything Harry has ever seen. This time, Harry spoke in advance without asking Toby: "The Patronus Charm, this is the magic circle that summons the Patronus. It hasn't arrived yet."

When you are studying, you cannot use it smoothly just by memorizing it."

Finally, Mr. Al, who was sweating profusely, finished engraving the magic circle, and then it was Toby's turn.

He took out the magic ball, let it melt, wrapped the unicorn tail hair, and attached it to the surface of the scepter little by little. After it condensed again, the tail hair had successfully turned into the core of the scepter and integrated into the scepter.

Then there is the small piece of wand left by Pandora.

The finger-sized wand was placed diagonally on the top of the wand by Professor Heimer. It was also wrapped with a magic ball. In a flash of light, the two pieces of wood had grown into one piece, and no difference could be seen.

"Try it," said Toby.

This scepter is far less exaggerated than Professor Heimer's. Instead, it looks like a large wand, but it is half as tall as Luna.

She caught her wand with both hands, making Harry and Ginny extremely envious.

Then Luna looked at Al, pointed to the glasses on the bridge of Al's nose and said, "Can you give this to me? I want to make anti-monster glasses."

Al's glasses were not the right size, but he took out a pair that suited Luna from his belly pocket and handed them to her.

Toby probably guessed what Luna was going to do.

Luna was not in a hurry to use the scepter now. She whispered: "That experiment was born because of me and dad. Mom hopes to help him distinguish who is a good guy and who is a bad guy, and she also hopes to help me.

Myself. I plan to repeat that experiment today."

Toby did not refuse because of the risk. He asked Harry and Ginny to step back, then stood next to Luna and said, "I think Pandora will like this gift."

Under the gaze of several people, Luna raised the scepter with both hands. The posture looked a little weird. She pointed the tip of the scepter at the glasses on the grass, moved it a few times with difficulty, and then recited an unfamiliar magic spell to let

The magic circle on the scepter lit up in an instant, shooting a spell and hitting the glasses——

Almost at the same time, the magic ball formed a magic circle. Toby quickly lifted up Luna's collar and knocked the scepter away with one hand. Seeing it being hit into the air, it trembled and split open.

Finally, it exploded with a loud bang, forming balls of flames that were blocked by the barrier constructed by the magic circle.

When the smoke cleared, Luna stared blankly into the air, and Harry and Ginny fell down on the grass. Toby waved his hand, and he said with a headache: "There is still no way for the magic circle to coexist with ritual magic. Sure enough, it is still the same."

It's difficult to do - I'm sorry, Miss Lovegood, it seems that Pandora's relic is - "

Before Luna could react, Toby reached out to catch a small piece of the wand that fell and said, "It's okay. It's difficult to save a whole wand, but I can still do this little thing."

Harry watched the professor put the wand in Luna's hand, with the expression of admiration that Toby had said before on his face.

"Shrewd." Toby reminded him without missing any educational opportunity: "This is shrewdness. Okay, let's see what we made."

He picked up the glasses from the grass, put them into the dark fog under his hood, then turned his head, first looking at Harry, then at Ginny, and finally at Luna, but there was nothing surprising about them.

Finally, he looked at Al with his glasses on. Al sat on the small flying carpet a little tiredly and whispered "Yeah" in a low voice.

At the same time, a line of words appeared on the top of its forehead - So tired, so thirsty, why did it fail? Now I can't do the scepter business, and "The Quibbler" hasn't replied yet

As for Ben, how come Toby can spend money so much?

Toby silently took off his glasses, silently conjured up a glass of ice milk and floated it in front of Al, and then silently stared at the glasses in his hand for a while.

Luna asked from the side: "Professor, can you let me take a look?"

"Well" Toby groaned: "No!"

"Huh?" A question mark popped up on the heads of the three of them at the same time.

"Not yet." Toby said carefully, "As a creature of the Scepter of Failure, I can't safely hand over these glasses to you now, lest you see something weird and affect you. That's it.

Leave it with me for now, and I will return it to you after all risks have been eliminated. Oh, by the way, finally, remember to ask Pandora if there are any other spells you want to create, and you can write a note then.

Send it to the Ancient Magic Office. Anyway, that's it."

The confused three people were forcibly driven away by Professor Heimer.

Ginny only felt lucky that she had not been punished. Harry was still thinking about Professor Hemmer's words, and Luna was thinking blankly for a long time.

Is this considered robbery?

After the three of them walked away, Toby immediately approached Al and warned: "You must be careful what you say in the future."

Al sipped the ice milk and muttered: "Yeah? (What's wrong? No one can understand what I'm saying anyway.)"

"Not now." Toby waved his glasses and said, "You must not let other people get these glasses. If Dumbledore knows-"

"Let me know something, Toby." Dumbledore appeared next to them like a ghost. He didn't know when he also brought his head over, and was sandwiched between Toby and Al. His blue eyes

Stare directly at them.

"Give me your glasses."

"No!" Toby immediately leaned back and said, "Unless I exchange it for Ravenclaw's crown."

"Okay." Dumbledore said calmly.

Toby was stunned. He suddenly added another condition: "I must also be the principal of Hogwarts."

"Can you do it, Dean?" Dumbledore tried to change the conditions: "The Dean of Slytherin? I believe Horace would be very willing to see this scene. After all, you are his favorite student and take over his former status.

It will be a good thing for him to talk about."

"What about Severus?" Toby asked doubtfully, "Are you sure you can appease him?"

"I can give it a try," Dumbledore said.

Toby and Al exchanged a look.

Al suddenly screamed in fear, and he immediately floated behind Toby, quietly looking at Dumbledore.

"Don't be nervous." Dumbledore said, slowly explaining the reason why he did this: "Fox told me that he did not choose those three students, nor did he choose you, but chose Al."

"What to choose?" Toby asked.

"Choose the person who is most loyal to me." Dumbledore said: "This is really strange. After all, we have not been together for a long time, and we only had breakfast together not long ago. In addition, Gran

The Sword of Findor. I told you, Toby, only a true Gryffindor can draw the sword from the Sorting Hat, and Al did it."

Toby tried to change the subject and said: "Okay, Headmaster. It's not me, and it's not Harry Potter. I remember that you valued him very much in the beginning."

"You are not worthy of attention." Dumbledore stared at Toby and said: "I hope to know what happened to you, especially the connection between Al and you, which is almost beyond ordinary magical common sense.

"

Toby was silent for a while, and then silent for a while again, as if he planned to stay silent like this.

Dumbledore sighed: "I just want you to know that I am willing to help you."

"Then let's talk about what happened tonight." Toby said, still changing the subject.

This time, Dumbledore finally compromised and did not continue to press.

"Dobby," he said, "the house elf of the Malfoy family, the problem lies with him."

"How is this possible?" Toby also discussed seriously: "Have you not checked him?"

"Of course." Dumbledore said, "But this time Voldemort changed his method of controlling Dobby. It was no longer black magic, but the magic circle he learned later."

He stretched out his palm and revealed something in his hand - a green badge with a silver snake on it hissing mightily.

Toby recognized it as an exam assignment handed in by Draco Malfoy in his first year. He took it and examined it carefully, and found that the silver snake was covered with fine magic circles.

Dumbledore explained: "I found this in Dobby's abdominal cavity. It was hidden very secretly and escaped all investigations. Voldemort knew very well how to hide Dobby's strangeness, and he was very good at it."

Toby thought thoughtfully and said: "Then the clues found in the diary may also point to the elf. That's why the traces of the mysterious man were detected in Hogwarts, which actually refers to this badge."

Dumbledore did not deny this. He said: "Actually, I discovered this very early on and discovered something was wrong with Dobby. He is a very enthusiastic house elf. I told him clearly

But a large part of his freedom is due to you, but he only behaves very calmly towards you, you should know what I am referring to."

Toby thought about it carefully for a while.

Not long after the coffin and mummy disappeared, Toby and Dumbledore met in the principal's office. It was also the first time that Dumbledore called Dobby out. At that time, he showed much more respect for Dumbledore than Dumbledore.

Talk too much to Toby.

"It seems that the knowledge of magic circles absorbed by the mysterious man is also flawed."

Toby said: "And there is good news. The mysterious man is very weak now, otherwise he would not have to use a student's magic array items. He can create a new one out of thin air and help Lucius."

Put aside any doubt."

Dumbledore also agreed with Toby's guess: "So the next question is much simpler. With limited strength, how can Voldemort cause greater trouble in Hogwarts. There is no doubt that he wants to

Do this, otherwise he will not leave any hands or feet on Dobby. I once had some guesses, such as the centaurs, they are a very suitable target because they have had a lot of conflicts with you. "

"Also like the Acromantula."

"Voldemort knew about the existence of the Acromantula. When he was in school, he thought about framing the Chamber of Secrets on Hagrid's pet, Aragog. The Acromantula is a dark creature, and only Aragog can control it.

Children. After being controlled, Dobby attacked Aragog, putting him into a coma, and then lured her and Ginny there through Luna's letter to create trouble. Even if he did not achieve his goal of attacking all teachers and students.

Target, but it’s enough to just keep the two of them.”

"But what's the purpose?" Toby asked: "Is it just to cause trouble?"

"I have some guesses about this." Dumbledore had another guess.

"Hagrid was framed for the Chamber of Secrets incident and was imprisoned in Azkaban for a while. Now Voldemort obviously does not dare to contact Lucius anymore because he has left traces in Malfoy Manor. He needs more helpers, more help

What a reliable and capable subordinate."

"And these people are all imprisoned in Azkaban."

"It's not just you, Toby, Voldemort also wants to go to Azkaban."

"He needs a criminal and a guide."

Dumbledore paused for a moment, and then continued to clarify: "No matter whether the attack is successful or not, the Acromantula cannot be concealed any longer. They made too much noise, and the students in the dormitory may have been awakened.

Less. I think the soonest possible is tomorrow, and someone will come to Hogwarts tomorrow, which provides them with a natural reason."

Toby was silent for a while.

This time he didn't stay quiet for long before asking: "What about you, principal? What is your purpose? Why didn't you solve Dobby's hidden danger from the beginning?"

"Because I'm waiting." Dumbledore said: "Only when the event actually happens can I know what the hidden dangers in Dobby are. I also need to know whether there are more things like diaries and crowns, and Voldemort needs to

They came to solve the hidden dangers of that body, but he couldn't do it alone, so he was forced to go to Azkaban to find reliable helpers."

"I also have to know the exact number of them, I suspect there will be more."

"Besides, I have one more thing to think about: whether the news of Voldemort's return should be announced."

Toby suddenly understood: "That's why you watched me control Skeeter and Guffey to increase the sales of "The Quibbler"?"

"It's not just that." Dumbledore said: "Although Voldemort already has a new body, we all know that there are great hidden dangers and we cannot let him completely control himself. And you also have the problem of the Pharaoh's mask.

To solve it, you have to go to Azkaban."

"In my original plan, I used Gryffindor's sword as a bargaining chip to purchase "The Quibbler" - there is no doubt that I have the power to control this property. Before I drew the sword from the Sorting Hat

, it has been missing for a long time. According to the values ​​of wizards and Godric Gryffindor, the sword already belongs to me."

"Then I will tell Fudge in private about the return of Voldemort, making Fudge even more hostile to me - he will definitely think so. The taste of power has blinded him for too long, and has made him deeply trapped in it, thinking that I

They want to take away his power through false information about The Quibbler and Voldemort."

"Then I will take the initiative to secretly reveal the news that I captured Skeeter and Guffey. In this way, there will be no need for a trial, and I will be imprisoned in Azkaban by Fudge, which will also give you a chance.

Sneak in."

"But there's no need to worry about me, because The Quibbler is still on our side. It won't be long before the news of Voldemort's return will be widely publicized in the newspapers, and the Ministry of Magic will not be able to control The Quibbler. At that time, with the help of the outside world,

Under pressure, Fudge will definitely release me from Azkaban. He alone cannot solve such a big problem, and it will also cause all kinds of speculation, which is not conducive to his consolidation of power."

The black mist obscured the expression on Toby's face, but Al had long been stunned.

It slowly moved its head to look at Toby, as if wondering who Toby's principal was?

Could it be that Toby learned all those methods from Dumbledore?

"Well" Toby pondered for a long time. He secretly took two steps back and distanced himself from Dumbledore: "Then what should we do next?"

"Hagrid." Dumbledore said: "Now that we have a new culprit, Hagrid, we can leave more room for our plan. But I don't want Hagrid to be captured in Azkaban. I remember you."

The skeletons in the collection can transform into humans, which is extremely rare and almost non-existent. You can fool them on the spot and make the skeletons be regarded as prisoners."

"Well, very good, principal, that's no problem." Toby said after careful consideration: "It only requires some of Hagrid's blood to do it, but he is relatively large, so he may need more blood."

"Also, there is one more thing." He said hesitantly, as if he was shocked by the principal's thoughts, and his tone became cautious.

"What is it?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Lockhart has become a fool." Toby quickly explained: "It wasn't me, it was him who caused it."

"He paid the price for the failed magic circle and turned into a clueless fool."